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British Railways
British Railways (BR) also known as British Rail from 1965 and on Sodor as The Other Railway, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the national railway network. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotion had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction. Passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and one-third of the network was closed by the Beeching Axe of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies. On the Island of Sodor, the North Western Railway became part of British Railways and was known as the "North Western Region". However, it managed to keep much of its operating independence, which allowed it to avoid the effects of total dieselisation and the Beeching Axe. The only other Sudrian railway company operational at the time, the Skarloey Railway, was not absorbed into British Railways, although some other British narrow gauge lines did become part of it. On privatisation, responsibility for track, signalling and stations was transferred to Railtrack (which was later brought under public control as Network Rail) and that for trains to the train operating companies. The British Rail "double arrow" logo is formed of two interlocked arrows showing the direction of travel on a double track railway and was nicknamed "the arrow of indecision". It is now employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations, and as part of the Rail Delivery Group's (RDG) jointly-managed National Rail brand is still printed on railway tickets. Since privatisation, the network has still become known on Sodor as the Other Railway Overview * Founded: 1948 * Predecessor: Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, Southern Railway and 55 other railways * Sucessor: National Rail (1999), train operating franchises (passenger; 1995) Railtrack (1994; infrastructure), Members of RDG (passenger; 1994), Direct Rail Services (nuclear material; 1994) EWS, Fastline & Freightliner (freight; 1996), Rail Regulator and Director of Passenger Rail Franchising (regulation; 1993) * Locale: Great Britain * Headquarters: London * Parent: British Transport Commission (1948-1962), British Railways Board (1962-2001) * Divisions: InterCity, Network SouthEast, Regional Railways, Trainload Freight, Railfreight Distribution, Railfreight, Freightliner, Loadhaul, Mainline Freight, Rail Express Systems, Transrail Freight * Subsidiaries: British Rail Engineering Limited, British Rail Research Division, British Transport Hotels, Seaspeed, Sealink, Red Star Parcels * Defunct: 2001 * Fate: Privatised History The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). During World War I the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the Railways Act 1921 is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected. Nationalisation was subsequently carried out after World War II, under the Transport Act 1947. This Act made provision for the nationalisation of the network, as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlee's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four. There were also joint railways between the Big Four and a few light railways to consider (see list of constituents of British Railways). Excluded from nationalisation were industrial lines like the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway. The London Underground – publicly owned since 1933 – was also nationalised, becoming the London Transport Executive of the British Transport Commission. The Bicester Military Railway was already run by the government. The electric Liverpool Overhead Railway was also excluded from nationalisation. The Railway Executive was conscious that some lines on the (then very dense) network were unprofitable and hard to justify socially, and a programme of closures began almost immediately after nationalisation. However, the general financial position of BR became gradually poorer, until an operating loss was recorded in 1955. The Executive itself had been abolished in 1953 by the Conservative government, and control of BR transferred to the parent Commission. Other changes to the British Transport Commission at the same time included the return of road haulage to the private sector. Between 1994 and 1997, British Rail was privatised. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994, with a few exceptions, such as Island Line on the Isle of Wight and the North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor. In both cases, the respective companies are responsible for both infrastructure and services. Passenger operations were later franchised to 25 private-sector operators and the freight services were sold to six companies, five of whom were owned by the same buyer. Regions British Railways was divided into regions which were initially based on the areas the former Big Four operated in; later, several lines were transferred between regions. Notably, these included the former Great Central lines from the Eastern Region to the London Midland Region, and the West of England Main Line from the Southern Region to Western Region * Southern Region - former Southern Railway lines. * Western Region - former Great Western Railway lines. * London Midland Region - former London Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England. * Eastern Region - former London and North Eastern Railway lines south of York. * North Eastern Region - former London and North Eastern Railway lines in England north of York. * North Western Region - all lines on the Island of Sodor. * Scottish Region - all lines, regardless of original company, in Scotland. Marine services Ships British Railways operated ships from its formation in 1948 on several routes. Many ships were acquired on nationalisation, and others were built for operation by British Railways or its later subsidiary, Sealink. Those ships capable of carrying rail vehicles were classed under TOPS as Class 99. Sealink Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland. Hovercraft The joint hovercraft services of British Rail (under British Rail Hovercraft Limited) in association with the SNCF, the state owned railway company in France. British Rail Hovercraft Limited was established in 1965, under authority given to it by the British Railways Act 1967 and started its first service in 1966. Seaspeed started cross-Channel services from Dover, England to Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, France using SR-N4 hovercraft in August 1968. Liveries Following nationalisation in 1948, British Railways began to adapt the corporate liveries on the rolling stock it had inherited from its predecessor railway companies. Initially, a GWR-style Brunswick green was used on passenger locomotives, and LNWR-style lined black for mixed-traffic locomotives, but later green was more widely adopted. Development of a corporate identity for the organisation was hampered by the competing ambitions of the British Transport Commission and the Railway Executive. The Executive attempted to introduce a modern, curved logo which could also serve as the standard for station signage totems. Due to its similarity to a hot dog, it became known as the "flying sausage". BR eventually adopted the common branding of the BTC as its first corporate logo, an Art Deco-style motif of a lion astride a spoked wheel, designed for the BTC by Cecil Thomas; on the bar overlaid across the wheel, the BTC's name was replaced with the words "British Railways". This logo, nicknamed the "Cycling Lion", was applied from 1948 to 1956 to the sides of locomotives, while the sausage logo was adopted for station signs across Great Britain, each coloured according to the appropriate BR region. In 1956, the BTC was granted a heraldic achievement by the College of Arms and the Lord Lyon, and then BTC chairman Brian Robertson wanted a grander logo for the railways. BR's second corporate logo (1956–1965), designed in consultation with Charles Franklyn, adapted the original, depicting a rampant lion emerging from a heraldic crown and holding a spoked wheel, all enclosed in a roundel with the "British Railways" name displayed across a bar on either side. This emblem soon acquired the nickname of the "Ferret and Dartboard". A variant of the logo with the name in a circle was also used on locomotives. However after nationalization, the North Western Railway used two logos (or crests) during the period, similar to the ones of British Railways. The first logo (1948-1956) was the "Lion and Wheel" (sometimes nicknamed the "Cycling Lion"), showing a lion standing over a spoked wheel upon which the words "British Railways" were displayed. The second logo (1956-1965) featured a lion holding a wheel (which gave rise to the nickname "ferret and dartboard"), sitting in a crown, with the words "British" and "Railways" to left and right. From 1965, the BR/Sudrian Corporate Image and "Double Arrow" logo was adopted. Trivia * Diesel, Mavis, Bill and Ben are currently owned by the NWR, but were previously owned by BR and private railways respectively. * Until privatisation, BR and the NWR ran a joint suburban service between Barrow-in-Furness and Norramby. The service is now operated by the NWR themselves. * From 1977, BR operated a Motorail service to Sodor, It was a long-distance train that could also carry cars as well as passengers onboard. The service ran between Kensington (Olympia) in London and Killdane. Motorail trains also ran from Kensington (Olympia) to other places including Penzance, Plymouth, Fishguard Harbour, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Perth, Inverness and Fort William. The service ended in 1995 when BR was privatised. Category:Railways